Because it is a slice of one's life as well as a method for gatheringdata and insights, and because it entails socio-cultural immersionand interpersonal trust, field research confronts politicalscientists with a special set of normative issues not encountered inlibraries, laboratories, or home countries. This essay weighs fourplausible yet fallible positions on the ethics of fieldworkoverseas, with particular reference to American political scienceresearch in the Arabic-speaking world in the 21stcentury. I am raising questions I cannot really answer:specifically, amidst American military engagement and a good deal ofspying by governments all around, can we, or ought we, practicescholarly detachment, reciprocity, activism, or, perhaps,espionage?